[Welcome to The Tower. Please place all personal items and accessories in the tray.]
Aria's hands deftly undid the silver set of earrings hanging from her ears and placed them alongside her graduate badge, and communicator in the compartment extended from the wall. Her fingers deftly organize everything on impulse before raising her attention to the distended camera over the bulwark door a few feet above her.
'Strange…I thought they might have a real name not just…The Tower'
She thought to herself as the compartment retracted with the faint hiss of an intricate mechanism. After a few moments a loud whirring noise purred from the firmly sealed door and with a sharp pinging sound the speaker activated once more.
[You have been identified as Aria B. Leiden. Classification 3 Handler. Entry granted. Please proceed.]
After a few lingering seconds there was the loud sound of mechanical shuddering from either side of her and the reflective metal of the doors slid apart at a steady pace. Revealing a stretching hallway of glossy black marble and the same plastene material making up the walls and ceiling.
'Classy.' She thought to herself.
Her steps carried her through the door, only paying moderate attention to the sounds of its mechanisms firing back to life to securely thunk itself back into place behind her. Leaving her completely alone in the stretching hall.
As Aria walked the sound of her boot clad feet thumped in loud echoes off the walls. Filling the space with the even tread of her apprehensive steps.
Maybe apprehensive wasn't the right word. Aria was downright vibrating with anxiety.
Being the prison that it was, the personnel allowed inside was a very short list. Dr. Kiroshi, the supervisor and warden. The handlers. The Deva. That was it. Any support staff or logistical staff provided services remotely or through the intricate system of tubes that carried meals, supplies, and other essentials up directly to the highest floor of the fortress.
Which meant that for all intents and purposes she was completely isolated up here.
The idea of it made her shudder. The tension in her muscles grew taut as she fought to keep the neutral expression on her face. No doubt she was already being observed, she had no room to express anything but preparedness.
Soon enough she reached the end of the empty hallway. Her strides slowed to a steady creep until finally she stood in front of yet another door.
This one however had no discernible means of interacting with it.
Not only that but it was not made of the same industrial steel as the outer doors. Instead it was something undoubtedly unique.
The material of the bulwark doors was a polished lusterless cobalt. Swirling patterns of different hues of the shade decorated its surface. As she stood near it Aria noted the sense of general unease. Like the material itself was warning her to keep a distance from its surface. She would have sworn that the intricate patterning of the alloy was moving whenever the corners of her vision moved away. It gave her the creeps.
'So this is Manasteel' Aria thought.
Manasteel was not only valuable beyond comparison, but also the sole reason humanity was accredited with the defeat of the Magus Empires. It was the foundation of the world today. She could not count the amount of history lessons that mentioned the mystical metal in their texts.
The books they were taught explained how during the final war between men and Magus that the Great Betrayer sought out the noble families. Offering them the secret of infusion to create a new alloy capable of cleaving, containing, and dispelling all manners of spell weaving.
In desperation to save their people and as many lives as possible the nobles accepted. Stealing away the Great Betrayer to a secret workshop to tirelessly infuse and produce Manasteel weapons that became the historical armaments of the most elite warriors of mankind. With these beautiful azure weapons mankind secured victory of the Magus. Rendering their strongest tool useless in the face of the skilled heroes.
Aria suspected this was mostly fictitious. One of the earliest lessons she had learned from her dear father was that the victors always wrote the history books.
As these ponderings assailed her mind Aria failed to notice the subtle change of the quiet whirring sound of the locking mechanism disengaging.
Her figure jumped a little startled at the loud series of thunking sounds that vibrated the plastene walls to either side before the cobalt doors slid apart with the smooth hiss of pneumatics filling the air.
Waiting for her on the other side was a familiar face.
"Ah! Handler Leiden!"
The excitable and always inquisitive voice left the wrinkled lips of a hunched elderly man. His shoulders rounded forward as if he wore the years he'd been alive on his back. His right hand cradled a cane that supported his off-balance weight. A long ebony wood intricately inlaid the same lusterless cobalt metal of Manasteel as the doors. Forming a pattern not unlike the vascular bundles one would find when peering through a leaf on a summer afternoon. Each glimmering line racing upwards to conglomerate in the simple but effective bloom of a bulbous orb of the same metal crowning the stick.
His hair was sticking every which way, stark white and matching the disheveled mess of the hanging beard from his gaunt features. Far more hair on him than any man his age should have. All of this was covered in the simple garments of a scientist, long white coat and simple clothes below. Though as Aria's gaze fell down low she did notice the weirdly cute shape of a pair of comfortable looking slippers instead of the shoes one might expect in their place.
The final thing Aria noticed was his eyes. The beady black orbs of distilled onyx. Their shapes glimmering with a sharp intellect that scared her far more than any blade or Magus could. Meeting their gaze felt oppressive. As if the man possessed a presence that physically suffocated her.
'Dangerous…'
That was the first thought that passed through her mind as she forced a polite smile onto her lips. Her shape dipped down into a slight bow cordial greeting as was customary.
"Doctor Kiroshi. It's an honor." She said with measured breath.
"Nonsense dear! Cease that frivolous formality." The elderly man's hand not cradling his cane raised and waved off her formal greeting. "I have been greatly looking forward to meeting you. So many questions!"
Aria kept her forced grin in place, accompanying it with a sweet sounding chuckle as she straightened her posture. Following a gesture to accompany the Doctor as he turned himself with a weird amount of grace, the clicking of his cane across the black marble below their feet led the way deeper into The Tower as they conversed.
"I would be happy to answer them, although I am afraid I have plenty of my own questions, Doctor."
"Well of course my dear! We have much to cover. Then after, I will introduce you to your charge. Though…" The frail man paused his sentence.
Aria felt a slight falter in the upturn of her smile. Her eyes naturally narrowed as they remained firmly on the old man. Her ears only faintly registering the sound of the doors behind her whirring closed at a steady pace.
"I should warn you I suppose." Doctor Kiroshi said with a hefty sigh. His head turned to glance at her over one hunched shoulder. "I would suggest a modicum of caution. Subject 10 is…unruly."
She met the Doctor's eyes with a confident expression. Her chin only dipping in a curt nod at his warning as she said effortlessly.
"Don't worry Doctor. I can deal with unruly."
She sounded confident. But below her thick facade Aria's blood ran cold. What exactly did it mean when a bloody Deva Magus was 'unruly'?
The ominous undertone to their conversation, masquerading as polite introductions and discussion carried on as they spoke their way through formalities. The sound of the Manasteel doors behind them thumping shut echoing through the halls of the facility like the sounds of a boulder closing in the contents of a tomb.